Florida to St John

At Cat Island where Cynthia has killed three lionfish and we enjoyed eating the largest. The main halyard continues to chafe, so we need to solve that before heading out across the open to St John: too many lines are knotted together and rather ratty: should I get entirely new running rigging before setting out?

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Wind is blowing like stink, tide is going out (we should have a foot of wagter under our keel at low water), clouds moving in along with some forecast rain. We have two anchors holding us, so far less chance of dragging anchor in this wind. What will today bring? I HOPE that all works as planned, but always look at what can go wrong, what has gone wrong, and how to deal with both...

If this wind continues strong while changing to a west wind or northwest, we will be exposed. Not sure WHAT to do if the wind is still strong at that point as we might bounce on the bottom. Pull anchors and motor into sheltered area? Drop anchors with buoy attached and come back late today when wind is low? I am not relishing the possibility of going up on the bow in wind and rain, Cynthia handling the engine and steering.

We are getting a little water into various closets, probably from water making it's way through the layers of decking, but WHERE it is finding it's way into the decking is a mystery. We are guessing that there may be some voids where the deck meets the hull and maybe I can pull up some bits that need replacing anyway and take a look sometime, either up north this summer or down here in the next couple months.

The little computer exhaust fan on the composting head has quit, probably after gulping a bit of salt water when waves came over the deck a week ago. This is not a HUGE issue, but would be nicer to have replaced. I'll order a new one plus a spare to have on board, but will wait until we are certain about St John.

Certain, you ask? Yes, Cynthia is signed up for some job-related testing there and we are not 100% certain about getting there in time as we have not yet figured out the best way (or even a good way) to sail this boat upwind in any sort of waves.

Life is too damned complicated...

On the cool stuff side of the ledger, there are blue holes near us! I can see one from the deck of the boat, just a hundred yards off! Tempting to snorkel over to it when the wind is low.

Yesterday several dolphins visited us as we sailed. At first they lept out of wave fronts and showed off, then two began leaping together, side-by-side, then one even did a backflip! Do they visit to get an audience or are they take this opportinuty to play with something new rather than endless water?

Getting into the harbor here worked nearly perfectly....except the ipad we use for navigation lost charge. So, we anchored, ate BLT sandwiches, and went for a brief swim (water was surprisingly chilly). We STILL have seen no lionfish....although we've only been in twice and not in decent habitat for them.

Cynthia wants to go out paddling in the kayak. I am not eager to go to the effort and then paddle in this wind: about 20mph. This is weather in which one should cook, read, and relax.

We have found out why airlines give you pretzels: those salty, floury snacks seem to settle the stomach. As we set out in each rough leg of the trip, we look at eachother and pull out the bag of Snyder's sourdough niblers...

OK, that's all for now. Rain forecast for 11, both tonight and tomorrow AM. This ammuses me.